I've been toying with different ways of printing text on fabric. I've been printing, dipping, soaking and stamping. I love the way hand-stamping comes out on natural fabrics - it has a lovely 'homespun' look to it that makes me think of Zakka Style. I love this book.

The EEWI ladies did another round of cake-baking last weekend. I baked and baked and baked - and worried that I hadn't quite baked enough, I baked some more.

And then: disaster. My baking powder (horrors upon horrors!) was a no-go. That means that it didn't work. That means that I had a lot of flat cakes and brownies.

So, I baked again.

Before I knew it, we were at the Museum of Childhood on a rainy Sunday morning, stringing bunting up around all of the available spaces and stacking cakes upon cakes on the most beautiful little cake stands.


Here are Elizabeth and Niki on the morning shift. Doesn't it all look festive? I didn't have a proper look around the venue (The Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green) but from what I saw, it looked amazing. Definitely going to have to go back when there are fewer summer festivals and market stalls.






















We were supposed to be outside but the rain had prevented us from setting up shop. To make up for it, Niki brought along some of her potted plants to bring "the outside in".






















My crunchies were delicious, even if I do say so myself! This time I put the chocolate topping on while they were still very hot and it all soaked in to create a layer of chocolate fudgey deliciousness.






















Niki's patriotic fairy cakes were fabulous in their red, white and blue. Even the paper cases had little red soldiers and London buses on them!






















Niki also made these lemon and courgette buns. The sweets on top remind me of the "oranges and lemons" sugar slice sweets we used to get when we were little - they were such a treat, and I haven't seen them in years!

















What would be an EEWI bake sale without Colleen's ever popular flake-topped cupcakes? These sold out very quickly! I love the blue cases on the blue polka dot cake stand.

















These are my "bunny garden" cupcakes. I made them half-sized for small people. I also topped some of them with fudge and with pink and white pearls.

















This is Elizabeth's all-in-one Lemon Curd Cake. It is delicious. It sold out very quickly, so that's definitely one we'll have to bring back at the next bake sale.






















I thought this was a lovely idea - Colleen's small chocolate cupcakes topped with rocky road. Yum.

















I had a really good look through all of the EEWI canvas bags on sale this weekend. Some of them are particularly beautiful! They're the perfect "book bag" size which fits in a good book and a bit of knitting for train journeys.













While we were there we saw another popular local market-seller: Miwary. She hand-sews the most beautiful little things like bunnies, brooches and a line of fabric tea cups. Thanks to Elizabeth for the recommendation!



















Here's one of her pretty fabric tea cups (website here). Aren't they lovely?

I'm all baked out now. We're off to visit family on Friday night so I'm looking forward to a baking-free weekend (who would ever think I'd be saying that?) filled with a lot of catching up on lazy afternoons of reading and as little proper work as possible.

It has been a hot, hot week. The sun has been shining, the plants have been withering, the windows have been opened. These are rare things for London Town, so yesterday I popped out for a visit to the excellent Elizabeth who served coffee, scones and lemon curd cake in her beautiful garden. This is the ultimate mid-week treat; especially well-deserved after banishing a bunch of deadlines and starting on some new projects.






















Elizabeth's garden is a magical place filled with all manner of planted goodness - a veritable feast for the eyes! You can't see it from this picture, but there are all sorts of wonderful goings on inside this garden. There's a greenhouse and a selection of lovely tables. There are ornaments carefully placed amidst the plants. There's a collection of beautiful poppies underneath that archway... I shall endeavour to take pictures the next time to share some of its loveliness with you all.

And it just so happens that the walk up to Elizabeth's House is also the walk up to Walthamstow Market.

















I particularly love how bunting has made its way into the trees surrounding the market. Very festive indeed.

The nicest thing about Walthamstow Market is that it is a fabric paradise. If you want any kind of fabric for not-on-the-high-street prices then this is the place to be. I've visited fabric stores in and around London, and haberdasheries aplenty, but nothing quite compares to the market stalls here. Fabrics are an average of £2.00 a metre, although many bargains can be had if you're in the mood to rummage or hunt.

They don't have Makower and Moda, but they have plenty of good quality cottons for quilting. And, there is a stall selling Liberty Fabrics for £5.00 a metre. (If you bought it directly from Liberty, you'd pay around £21.00 a metre from their new ranges).

















This is my charming purchase - two half-metre lengths of "Liberty Fabric". I'm not sure whether it's Liberty as the selvedges have been removed, but it has that distinctive Liberty look and it's a good, solid cotton that will do nicely for quilting purposes. The colouring is slightly yellow which I think will go nicely with a natural coloured linen. I like the way the branches loop around gracefully.

















Possibly the nicest thing about Walthamstow Market are the haberdasheries. The market stall haberdasheries are there on a Thursday and a Saturday, selling all sorts of bits and pieces bound together with masking tape (like those bits above).

As you can see, I got really pretty embroidered ribbons for £1.50 for 3m (left) and £1 for 2m (right). The whole point of the trip was to buy velcro (tick!), plastic bobbins (tick!) and white lace for a quilt I'm working on (tick!).

I also got cotton (50p) and zips (20p each), as well as a selection of other things I Really Didn't Need (but they were on sale, I protest).

I have such buyer's remorse now. But, oh, the pretty things!

















I have a project in mind for each of them. I know, I really do.

















Isn't this one particularly lovely? It was £2.00 a metre from RIBBONS, a very pretty shop along the market street. It also has a lot of other useful goodies like self-covering buttons (4 for £1.00) and cottons, tapes and ribbons aplenty. It is slightly more expensive than the other shops around it but they always have excellent service and the shop staff know a lot about their products.

When I got home I realised that I had left the two priced bundles of ribbon behind at Benny Ds (a nameless haberdashery shop further up the road, right next to Benny Ds). I was distraught. I had carefully picked them up out of the pile of millions and had given them love and attention while choosing. I couldn't abandon them. So I popped up this morning and I'm delighted to say that I successfully reclaimed them! The girl behind the counter insisted that she had no idea who I was, so I was not impressed. The owner recognised me and gave me one of the bundles back, and I had to pay for the other one (£1.00). Huff. We'll stick to RIBBONS from now on, methinks.

I chuckle every time I see the East End Women's Institute abbreviation: EEWI. It's a long story, but basically - you say it 'ee-wee'. And that rhymes with 'she-wee'. And that, dear bloggy readers, is a funny story that goes way back to The Aunt Who Does Not Like Camping who invented the 'tee-pee' - a wraparound canvas shield that prevents people from seeing you if you need to piddle in a hurry and you're shy. Mostly for campers and road-trippers, the teepee was an ingenious invention that dealt with the less savoury aspects of The Lack of Public Toilets when out and about.

But I digress. Again.

















The EEWI strikes again! Come to think of it, they strike fairly regularly, delivering delicious baked goods to those in need in the East End of London Town. They strike with brownies and bakes, lemon drizzle cakes and chocolate courgette creations. I partake in this cakey tomfoolery (naysay! "Hard Work" is more apt!) as often as I can. The title, then, should read, "The EEWI [with Stacey on Team] strikes once again".






















We were at Stepney Green Park celebrating the arrival of the Olympic Torch. The locals gathered in their masses for a day of celebrations, shows and activities - and, of course, tea and cake.

These are my summery cupcakes with edible rice paper bunnies.






















And my vanilla cupcakes with fudge topping. Mm, Fudge.

















These are my chocolate-covered crunchies which are a South African treat. Who knew that they were only South African? Ha! They are similar to flapjacks, but they're more solid - and are filled with delicious goodies like wholegrain oats, coconut, dates and walnuts. You can add anything you like, like raisins and cherries - but I like dates and walnuts. Best of all, they're eggless and Low GI.

















There were some incredible contributions from the other bakers - lemon cake with lemon icing in generously-sized slices.

















Colleen's famous strawberry-topped cupcakes.


















Diane's extraordinary cherry cupcakes (with jam).

















Chocolate kisses, anyone?

















Here's the team that made it happen! Diane, Elizabeth, Karen and Colleen. Oh, and me - I'm holding the camera.
















Just in case you didn't believe me - that's me on the left. Thanks to Diane and her iPhone for this photo! And an extra special thanks to Graeme, aka Mr Bakercourt, for carrying the cupcakes, putting up the bags and fetching the sugar. Phew.

Kew Gardens is a magical place. It's an oasis in the hustle and bustle of London, offering an escape that takes you around the world as you visit the greenhouses, ponds and tearooms.

Sometimes you just have to take an afternoon off work and explore London's corners, visiting places like Kew which remind you that you're not holed up in an urban jungle.



Luckily, last week I had an excuse to head Kew-Wards.This is my friend Richard, and we decided to spend his last day in London visiting Kew Gardens. On our way, we met a really bizarre man on the train who noticed that we were all wearing the same shoes. He also confessed that he owned 25 pairs of said shoes, so I suppose he often meets people wearing the same ones.

















I've become really interested in textures and patterns in my design work, and what better place to take inspiration from, than from nature herself?

















The geometrics are fabulous, and the colour combinations all make their way from my camera into my designs as websites, drawings and paintings. So really, it's more of a reconnaissance mission for work than an afternoon off. Really.
















There's something about being surrounded by all of this natural wonder that makes you feel just a little more alive than you do when you're inside the bricks and mortar of London. Whether it's all the symmetry (which I love), the shades and colours, the vistas of rolling lawns - or just the fresh air.



Even the sculptures dotted in and around the gardens feel as if they have been incorporated into the environment, in a way that makes them come alive.

These giant water lilies are my favourite feature. They are the most enormous water lily pads you have ever seen! This pond is filled with black water (dyed) to prevent algae from growing. There are many types of water lilies and flowers in the pond, and thousands of little fish.





















You get the distinct impression that they'd be strong enough to hold a person - and look: I found an old photo of a little girl sitting all aplomb atop a solid water lily pad, circa 1900.























Even the interiors are overgrown and beautiful. This reminds me of the greenhouse (?) from the movie 5 Children and IT.

On the far end of Kew are the magical Oriental Gardens - it's as if you have stepped out of the noise of the Big Smoke and stepped into the quiet of a Japanese tea garden.























... and if you're quiet enough, and patient, you might just happen upon the place where the fairies visit! Doesn't it look like the foot of the Faraway Tree?